Salva Kiir land a treat of the U.S. secret service
By Steve Paterno
July 19, 2006 — President Salva Kiir receives a dignitary “welcome to America” by the U.S. government. Besides the well-choreographed official reception of President Kiir and his delegations that take place behind the close doors, the most conspicuous and visible aspect of it all is the U.S. Secret Service protection that has been accorded to President Salva Kiir.
For over a century, the U.S. Secret Service is being offering protection to the visiting heads of foreign states and governments, but never before does the U.S. Secret Service offer protection to the head of the South Sudanese government. At first, the Southern Sudanese visiting leaders to the U.S. were considered rebels, therefore, not worth the protection of the U.S. Secret Service. The Southern rebel leaders on their visits to the U.S. were left under the protection of their sympathizers and supporters who transport them around in rental cars.
After the interim government under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was formed last year, Salva Kiir, becomes the Vice President of Sudan and the President of the autonomous South Sudan government. President Kiir, first visit to the U.S. on his capacity as the Vice President of Sudan and the President of South Sudan was late last year. On that visit, his protection was left under the mercy of …and the highest U.S. official who received him was the head of a department known as the U.S. Department of State. However, this time around, the protection of President Kiir is under the full control of the U.S. Secret Service and Kiir is accorded with the reception of the highest U.S. government official, President, George W. Bush.
The U.S. Secret Service with its plans and tactics shrewd in secrecy and classification would probably not appreciate a detailed description of its operations-the details that no one even knows. Therefore, I am pretty confident that this description of its operation is not going to provoke them to go after me as I am only describing their conspicuous and visible operations. The U.S. Secret Service agents who are protecting Salva Kiir act in dramatic fashion and style. The actions of those agents are the reality version of Hollywood movies and films.
The drama all started at a Dulles International Airport where President Kiir landed. Kiir’s plane was veered only to find it ducked on a private terminal. A presidential motorcade in the size of a limousine with a full Armour protection gear rushed on the landing duck to pick Kiir from the plane so that he did not go through the regular terminal as the regular passengers often do. Before anyone could notice it, the President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir was whisked away from Dulles International Airport, now on highway 267 in the convey of the U.S. Secret Service motorcade en route to Washington, D.C. for a well-choreographed official reception.
As usual, left in the dark were agents of Khartoum embassy-the embassy that assume the role of Sudanese embassy in Washington. For some obvious reasons, the agents of Khartoum embassy in Washington duped themselves by waiting in a wrong terminal and reluctantly expecting to receive President Kiir. In their unfruitful wait, they never received Kiir and will probably never receive him. Whatever the case is, one will continue to wonder and ask why in the world is Khartoum insisting to maintain an embassy in Washington, the capital that does not recognize the existence of Khartoum embassy at any level.
On the highway and streets in Washington, President Kiir is driven like the U.S. head of the state. Six to nine U.S. Secret Service motorcades directed by police cruisers and motorcycles are swamping the streets with traffic blocked. The Secret Service motorcades do their usual zigzagging on the streets, probably in attempt to disguise the actual vehicle that carry the president. The Secret Service make sure that the lights and siren of their motorcades are on, and more seriously, the agents got their guns drawn out through the slightly open window as if ready for action. Those Secret Service agents do not speak the regular language but only speak the language of instructions, and make in no any terms the elusion of their instructions. There is no doubt that most people will mistake Kiir for Bush or Cheney given the level of protection of the Secret Service that he gets.
One will conclude that the president of Southern Sudan is not only being dignified by the host, the U.S., but also is well protected under the world’s best protection agency. Another chapter of victory to the stuggle of the people of South Sudan and another big blow to Khartoum and particularly seven more sad days to Khartoum embassy in Washington. Perhaps the lesson is that dignity is something that one will earn through struggle. Therefore, the struggle must continue.
* Steve Paterno is a Sudanese residing in the U.S.A., and he can be reached at [email protected]